"in the groove" meaning in English

See in the groove in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Prepositional phrase

Etymology: Originally mid-19th century slang with (usually pejorative) reference to the difficulty of leaving a well-worn rut (see in a rut). As back in the groove, the phrase acquired a positive sense of returning to one's usual self after a period of illness, setbacks, &c. With special regard for music, originally 1920s US jazz slang, possibly with reference to the grooves of early records. Head templates: {{head|en|prepositional phrase|head=}} in the groove, {{en-PP}} in the groove
  1. (colloquial) Running or performing extremely smoothly, especially (music, slang) playing perfectly, perfectly in sync with others, or with perfect focus. Tags: colloquial Categories (topical): Music, Jazz
    Sense id: en-in_the_groove-en-prep_phrase-4lBAmf7L Disambiguation of Jazz: 45 55 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English entries with language name categories using raw markup, English entries with topic categories using raw markup, English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys, Pages with 1 entry Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 57 43 Disambiguation of English entries with language name categories using raw markup: 61 39 Disambiguation of English entries with topic categories using raw markup: 62 38 Disambiguation of English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys: 65 35 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 59 41
  2. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see in, groove. Categories (topical): Jazz Synonyms: in the pocket [music, entertainment, lifestyle], in the zone [music, entertainment, lifestyle] Related terms: groovy
    Sense id: en-in_the_groove-en-prep_phrase-yDvfw89D Disambiguation of Jazz: 45 55
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  "etymology_text": "Originally mid-19th century slang with (usually pejorative) reference to the difficulty of leaving a well-worn rut (see in a rut). As back in the groove, the phrase acquired a positive sense of returning to one's usual self after a period of illness, setbacks, &c. With special regard for music, originally 1920s US jazz slang, possibly with reference to the grooves of early records.",
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            "Fundamental"
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          "_dis": "65 35",
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        {
          "ref": "1933 Aug., Fortune, p. 90",
          "text": "The jazz musicians gave no grandstand performances; they simply got a great burn from playing in the groove."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Running or performing extremely smoothly, especially (music, slang) playing perfectly, perfectly in sync with others, or with perfect focus."
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      "id": "en-in_the_groove-en-prep_phrase-4lBAmf7L",
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        [
          "smoothly",
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        [
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      "raw_glosses": [
        "(colloquial) Running or performing extremely smoothly, especially (music, slang) playing perfectly, perfectly in sync with others, or with perfect focus."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "colloquial"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
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          "_dis": "45 55",
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          "parents": [
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        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1869, J.E.T. Rogers's preface to Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations, Vol. I, p. 27",
          "text": "The whole course of legislation... had flowed in the same groove for centuries."
        },
        {
          "ref": "1932 Oct., Melody Maker, p. 836",
          "text": "[…] having such a wonderful time which puts me in a groove […]"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2005, Joe McCabe, Hanging Out With the Dream King: Conversations with Neil Gaiman, page 77:",
          "text": "There's a time in everybody's life when they know precisely what is right. And when I was doing that, when I was in the groove, I knew exactly what was right.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
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        "Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see in, groove."
      ],
      "id": "en-in_the_groove-en-prep_phrase-yDvfw89D",
      "links": [
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      "related": [
        {
          "_dis1": "18 82",
          "word": "groovy"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "_dis1": "18 82",
          "topics": [
            "music",
            "entertainment",
            "lifestyle"
          ],
          "word": "in the pocket"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "18 82",
          "topics": [
            "music",
            "entertainment",
            "lifestyle"
          ],
          "word": "in the zone"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "in the groove"
}
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    "English entries with language name categories using raw markup",
    "English entries with topic categories using raw markup",
    "English idioms",
    "English lemmas",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English prepositional phrases",
    "English terms with non-redundant non-automated sortkeys",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "en:Jazz"
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Originally mid-19th century slang with (usually pejorative) reference to the difficulty of leaving a well-worn rut (see in a rut). As back in the groove, the phrase acquired a positive sense of returning to one's usual self after a period of illness, setbacks, &c. With special regard for music, originally 1920s US jazz slang, possibly with reference to the grooves of early records.",
  "head_templates": [
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        "2": "prepositional phrase",
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      "expansion": "in the groove",
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      "args": {},
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "1933 Aug., Fortune, p. 90",
          "text": "The jazz musicians gave no grandstand performances; they simply got a great burn from playing in the groove."
        }
      ],
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        "Running or performing extremely smoothly, especially (music, slang) playing perfectly, perfectly in sync with others, or with perfect focus."
      ],
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        "(colloquial) Running or performing extremely smoothly, especially (music, slang) playing perfectly, perfectly in sync with others, or with perfect focus."
      ],
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      "examples": [
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          "ref": "1869, J.E.T. Rogers's preface to Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations, Vol. I, p. 27",
          "text": "The whole course of legislation... had flowed in the same groove for centuries."
        },
        {
          "ref": "1932 Oct., Melody Maker, p. 836",
          "text": "[…] having such a wonderful time which puts me in a groove […]"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2005, Joe McCabe, Hanging Out With the Dream King: Conversations with Neil Gaiman, page 77:",
          "text": "There's a time in everybody's life when they know precisely what is right. And when I was doing that, when I was in the groove, I knew exactly what was right.",
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    {
      "topics": [
        "music",
        "entertainment",
        "lifestyle"
      ],
      "word": "in the pocket"
    },
    {
      "topics": [
        "music",
        "entertainment",
        "lifestyle"
      ],
      "word": "in the zone"
    }
  ],
  "word": "in the groove"
}

Download raw JSONL data for in the groove meaning in English (3.0kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-09-22 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-09-20 using wiktextract (af5c55c and 66545a6). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.